McClellan, quoting old Dr. Beecher, might have said to me
last night: “Don't return thanks for me; I'm a good deal hurt,” for instead of
Richmond being in our possession, we are 27 miles from it and our Fourth will
be a very sad one. Looking at it from a military view, as I did at first, I
still insist it's not so very bad, but Father reminded me of the 50,000 killed
on both sides, of the numberless wounded and of their friends tonight, and the
thought is indeed dreadful. Oh, the agony of hundreds of thousands in our land
at this hour! God help them, for nothing else can. At first I only thought of
the whole result and felt as Father says he does, that it is in Our Father's
hands and if it is good for us to suffer we must bear and it matters little
what the end is. So we grow through it, but oh! the thought of those poor
suffering boys and men, in the hands of the enemy, too, and the cold young
faces turned up to the beautiful stars! It is enough to break our hearts. Every
new battle makes one feel how wicked, wicked it is, the desolate homes and
empty hearts, created by men's evil deeds. Young boys going out to die for
their country willingly and joyfully are grateful to the heart and mind, but
the men who made it necessary that they should do so are base, and oh, so
wicked!
SOURCE: William Rhinelander Stewart, The
Philanthropic Work of Josephine Shaw Lowell, p. 29-30
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